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The Durty Burger – Bar Bloc, Glasgow

For years, Bloc has been one of my favourite wee bars in Glasgow. It was a regular haunt of mine during my days as a student and has remained one of my favourite places to kick off a night out or just to grab some lunch and a quick beer. Despite my love for the bar, the quality of their food began to take a bit of a dive in recent years and didn’t do much to keep up with the influx of quality pub and fast food that Glasgow was seeing.

Then, the Mad Chef came along and brought with him ‘Furious Food’. Suddenly, with a new creative vision, Bloc was back on form and knocking out delicious, creative food with attitude. Now, with a new menu, the food is even better than ever.

The menu isn’t the only thing that’s been given a face lift in Bloc – the bar has undergone a transformation too. Don’t worry, it’s still the same Bloc that you know and love, just with a fresh lick of paint, better toilets and a new booth area that doesn’t take up a lot of space, but drastically increases the amount of people the bar can seat at once.

But you’re not here looking for a review on the decorating work that’s been done. While the new look Bloc is great, the food is even better.

The menu has been stripped back. The choice doesn’t feel overwhelming, but at the same time, feels more creative. It’s definitely sure to get people talking. Hot dogs wrapped in bacon, kraken rum milkshakes and burgers with bacon crisps on top and even more options for vegetarians than before – there’s no other menu in Glasgow quite like it.

We went for the ‘Durty Burger’, consisting of a grilled 6oz beef patty topped with Smiths bacon crisps, ‘trailer trash’ cheese, burger relish, sweet pickles and ‘Durty’ burger gravy. The burger came served with seasoned fries in a basket.

The Durty Burger

Presentation-wise, it definitely lived up to it’s ‘durty’ name. The burger came sat on top of the seasoned fries and the ‘trailer trash cheese’ dripped out of the bun. It looked messy, but in the best, most deliberate way possible.

Taste-wise, it’s easily one of the best burgers in Glasgow. The patty was well-seasoned with a deep, robust flavour and a hint of smokiness in there too. The cheese was thick, gooey, perfectly melted and not too messy, despite how it first appeared. This was a burger you could easily pick up and eat without it falling apart. My favourite thing here; however, were the bacon crisps on top. They were crunchy, complimented the cheese and patty well and added a nice element or originality. I’m not sure if the crisps were cooked slightly once on the burger, but they were ever so slightly chewy too – almost as if they’d been caramelised, which I really liked. The sweet pickles added a nice burst that balanced out the richness of the beef and lifted the flavour. They really helped give the burger that classic fast food taste. The gravy helped melt everything together while not getting in the way of the other flavours or destroying the bun in any way.

Inside the Durty Burger

The fries were well seasoned and the fact that some of the gravy from the burger had poured out and soaked them made them even better.

We also tried the doppelganger hot dog, a smoked German hot dog wrapped in crispy bacon (yes, you read that correctly) and topped with pulled pork, beef chilli, lava Monterey jack cheese, ketchup and mustard.

One of the best hot dogs we’ve ever had.

This was seriously good and NOT for the feint-hearted! A messy one, but if you attack it by cutting it in half, you’ll be fine. One of the best hot dogs we’ve had, without a doubt.

Liquid cheese!

The new menu at Bloc delivers in a BIG way. There’s also a ton of great beer and some fantastic rums to try (Red Leg!). Get down and get pure heavy durty with a burger or two.

Have you tried this burger? Did you love it? If so, vote for it in the ‘Glasgow’s best burger’ award by clicking here.

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